Organisational Report

Adaptive innovation: at its best and signs of weakness

At its best

Signs of weakness

Key learning point: Organizational Resilience involves changing before the cost of not changing becomes too great. This requires learning

Productive tension disrupts existing patterns and generates a search for new possibilities Creative thinking and problem solving by people drawing on multiple perspectives and taking risks in a safe environment Collective strategic action with rich interactions coalition formation, negotiation and compromise Systems-wide changes across borders and boundaries; multidimensional and fundamental changes

Entrenched thinking; People often resist even acknowledging adaptive challenges Lack of diversity of people and outlooks; nonconforming voices are ignored; people are too frightened to try something new Silos; people refer to “them” and “us”; resources or ideas aren’t shared Quick fixes; local changes; reinventing the wheel; change is resource intensive and slow - the search for solutions goes on

to do new things by changing underlying

values and assumptions, creative problem solving, innovation and learning.

Organizational Resilience – finding fit, managing tensions and avoiding erosion Senior leaders need to manage the tensions between these four approaches if organizations are to be truly resilient. We suggest that the shape of the Organizational Resilience Tension Quadrant (Figure 3) will depend on the nature of organization, its operations, and the industry, particularly level of uncertainty and industry clock speed (rate of technological, regulatory and market change). We tend to find, for example, that organizations with high potential for accidents, such as energy production, transport, mining, and construction, are often weighted toward the preventative control (defensive consistent) quadrant. It should be noted that a preoccupation with one particular dimension could create blind spots that can impair Organizational Resilience.

PROGRESSIVE (Achieving results)

PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION Improving and exploiting

ADAPTIVE INNOVATION Imagining and creating

ABILITY TO ANTICIPATE, PREPARE FOR, AND RESPOND

CONSISTENCY (Goals, processes, routines)

FLEXIBILITY (Ideas, views, actions)

AND ADAPT TO INCREMENTAL CHANGE AND SUDDEN DISRUPTIONS

Integration, balance and fit (for purpose) are essential

PREVENTATIVE CONTROL Monitoring and complying

MINDFUL ACTION Noticing and responding

DEFENSIVE (Protecting results)

Figure 3: Organizational Resilience Tension Quadrant: blending defensive and progressive thinking

16

Organizational Resilience | BSI and Cranfield School of Management